SNC-Lavalin (TSX: SNC) announced that Sound Transit has awarded South County Transit Partners, a joint venture of Mott MacDonald and SNC-Lavalin, a contract for the design-build project management of the Federal Way Link Extension in the Seattle area. The contract initially covers the preconstruction period up to the award of the design-build contract, also known as Phase 1.

The Federal Way Link Extension project, a 7.8-mile extension of a regional light rail line with three elevated stations, will be Sound Transit’s largest design-build contract to date, valued at $1.0 billion. The project will extend regional light rail service from the Angle Lake Station to the Federal Way Transit Center. New stations will be constructed near Kent Des Moines Road, South 272nd Street, and the Federal Way Transit Center, and are expected to be open for service in 2024. Voters’ passage of system expansion measures provides funding for these transit improvements.

For Phase 1 of the project, South County Transit Partners will support the process leading up to the execution of the design-build contract. For Phase 2 (design-build project management), the joint venture is expected to provide project management services during design and construction.

“This contract builds on the many years of solid design, project management, and construction management services that Mott MacDonald has provided to Sound Transit,” said Nick DeNichilo, President and CEO of Mott MacDonald in North America. “We are pleased to be joining SNC-Lavalin in the latest phase of transit development in the Puget Sound region.”

“We are very proud to be working with Sound Transit to deliver the Federal Way Link Extension for the citizens and communities of the Central Puget Sound region,” said Ian L. Edwards, President, Infrastructure at SNC-Lavalin. “Our team is driven by a desire to shape the world we live in and improve people’s lives through sustainable, quality infrastructure. At SNC-Lavalin, we draw on our ability to address projects of any size, scale or complexity by using innovative solutions such as the ones used on our recent work expanding Vancouver’s SkyTrain system.”

Services and responsibilities under the design-build project management contract include resident engineering, project controls and scheduling, change management, technical support and inspection, and quality assurance and quality control activities.